Task 1 – Monitoring and Evaluation
Instructions to Learners:
- This summative assessment can be completed in class or at any other convenient location.
- Students are required to complete this task using digital tools and ensure to submit in an acceptable format, e.g. .docx, .pdf, .pptx, or as advised by your assessor.
- Please use the following formatting guidelines to complete this assessment task:
- Font Size: 12; Line Spacing: Double; Font Style: Times New Roman
- Assessment activities can be completed either in real workplace environment or in a simulated environment such as your classroom. In both cases, appropriate evidence of the assessment activities must be provided.
Instruction to Assessors:
- You must assess student’s assessment according to the provided Marking Criteria.
- You must complete and record any evidence related to assessment activities including role-plays and presentations using appropriate forms which must be attached with student assessment submission.
- You must provide students with detailed feedback within 10 working days from submission.
For a project nominated by your Assessor, you are required to implement a monitoring, evaluation and reporting program.
In order to do so, complete the attached Evaluation Worksheet then complete the following questions:
Purpose
– What is the purpose of the evaluation?
– Who is it serving?
– Does the design of the evaluation support the initiative taking place on the ground?
– Does the research generate new knowledge?
– Is the evaluation being used as a tool to help empower the individuals and communities it serves?
Realistic
– Are adequate resources available for the evaluation?
– Are the evaluators fully trained and competent in the techniques they are being asked to carry out? (This may be particularly important with internal evaluations – i.e. when project staff are being asked to carry out much of the evaluation themselves.)
– Do stakeholders agree that the resources earmarked for the evaluation are proportional to the overall size of the project? i.e. +/- 10% of the total budget for the project.
– Do all stakeholders share similar views of what the evaluation aims to achieve?
– What has been done to ensure that funders and practitioners have a realistic view of the communities they are working with and their capacity to absorb and engage with different kinds of evaluation activities?
– What has been done to ensure that the proposed project outcomes, and the timescale within which changes might be expected, are compatible?
– Is the project goal/vision compatible with the anticipated outcomes?
– Has the evaluation considered the historical, political and social (local and national) context in which the program is taking place?
– Does the evaluation address the theoretical assumptions on which the project is based? – What are the political forces at play? How much political power is being wielded?
Ethics
– Has an appropriate ethical framework been developed? This may include considerations of protecting the confidentiality and anonymity of responses.
– Who considered the ethical dimensions of the project and how ethical policies would be implemented?
Methods
– Is the evaluation participatory?
– Are the objectives and monitoring indicators SMART (Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic, Time-Bound)?
– Has the planning of the evaluation been treated as equally important as the data collection? – Is the evaluation integrated into all stages of development and implementation?
– Is the chosen methodology the most appropriate in light of the project interventions? Be clear why!
– How is the quality of practice/application of methods ensured (different questions need to be asked if the research is commissioned or carried out internally)?
– Is the timeframe of the evaluation sufficient to measure the potential outcomes (some of which may be very long-term)?
– Are the methods used flexible enough to monitor unintended outcomes?
Dissemination
– How can evaluators be encouraged to report more fully on their evaluation activities?
– Will the findings be conveyed to all participants and stakeholders in meaningful, timely and appropriate ways?
– Will the results show the failings as well as the achievements of the project?
Attach copies of all produced documents including the evaluation plan, surveys, survey outcomes and reports.
